My first backpacker moment

AKA The time I had shower in a squat toilet cubicle.

I’m more of a flashpacker: someone who’s willing to pay just that little more for comfort and cleanliness while travelling.

I did try backpacking (staying in a multi-person dorm room) once in Shanghai. I found out that I cannot sleep with someone snoring in the room. Since then, I opt for private rooms in hostels.

So, being the flashpacker that I am, how did I end up in a squat toilet cubicle, rinsing my hair with a hose that was meant to clean someone’s bum?

It’s a short story but I’ll make it longer.

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Why you should get TripIt

tripit

I went to cover a tech event today and the main theme was about the personal cloud and how it would become the center of our digital lives.

It got me thinking about my personal cloud apps and how it allowed me to be free of a USB and forwarding all documents to my e-mail.

I have many cloud apps I love but for travelling, I adore TripIt (and Google Docs’ Speadsheet).

I wrote a semi-review of TripIt last September on my now-dead tech blog. Since then, I’ve used the app for many more months and have grown really fond of it. I basically use it as my carrot–whip out my phone, see my upcoming trips before getting back to real life.

If you haven’t tried out TripIt, I’m here to convince you to do so. The light version is free anyway! I don’t have much use for the Pro version’s extra functionalities.
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Are travel fairs useful for indie travellers?

When I hear the word “travel fair”, I usually think of crowded exhibition halls where travel agencies peddle toured packages. How useful could such a fair be for indie travellers like me?

In the name of research, I decided to pop by the NATAS Fair at expo last weekend. (NATAS is the National Association Travel Agents Singapore.) Held each quarter, the fairs are so popular that people (like me) don’t mind paying S$4 just to get in.

After you pay S$4, they tie a paper tag around your wrist which allows you to enter the halls again on the same day.

So, how useful was the fair? I had three things I needed help with:
1. Information for my March Yogyakarta trip
2. Explanation about a cruise
3. Find a tour agency to help with a round-the-world ticket

I decided that if all three simple problems were solved, then travel fairs can be useful for indie travellers.

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Summary of my 2011 travels

2011 has been a very eventful year in terms of travelling. I was formally afflicted by dromomania.

I’ve also started on my Visit Malaysia project, visited Europe for the first time and went back to China and Japan since the last time I went as a student.

Here are the locations I went and the photos I took. Yes, I am also using this as my bragging wall. Thanks!

January

Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia [HOME]

Reflection of Mt Kinabalu

Continue reading “Summary of my 2011 travels”

Hotel review: Riverview Hotel, Muar, Johor

Went to Muar during the Christmas weekend without making any hotel bookings (nor bus ticket bookings). I’ve only skimmed through the first page of Google Search and found this place’s Web site. It looked nice enough but I didn’t jot down the address.

We reached Muar around 8pm, and it was raining. Good thing the hotel sign is high up the building because we saw it while our bus drove pass.

The hotel is just a less than 10 minute walk away from the bus terminal, thank goodness.

I think our room was the last one in the hotel that night because the concierge told someone on the phone that there is no more room available.

Our room had a queen-sized bed, bathroom with hot shower, TV and plastic kettle. It was RM85 per night, the walk-in rate, I suppose.

Extra pillows for watching TV.

When we got into the room, there was a puddle near the curtains. It seems that rain seeped through the windows.

We called room service and a man came in to mop and put a towel at the bottom of the window to keep water from coming in.

D thought the bathroom smelled of urine so she washed it up. I guess most bathroom smell of urine from people peeing in the shower.

Something funny about the hotel is that it has ads for a particular chicken processed food.

Our keycard


Best chicken

The stay was nice, we extended an extra night. The bed was so comfortable that I sang and talked in my sleep, it seems. haha

Internet: There is Wi-Fi in the room, remember to ask for the code from the concierge.

Another good thing about this place is that it is next to a dimsum coffee shop (breakfast!) and a Chinese food court (dinner, supper!). You know how much I love my food.

I would return here again, just because it is near the bus terminal. (But then there’s a Hotel D’99 also near the terminal. Maybe I’ll check that place out next time.)

Website: http://www.riverviewhotel.com.my/index.php?page=aboutus.php

Location: 29 Jalan Bentayan, Muar 84000, Malaysia
Price: RM85 per night
Pros: Cheap. comfy beds, strategic location.
Cons: Smelly bathroom, wet floor–which were all fixed

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2012 can’t come fast enough

This morning I realized that it is already the end of November but I haven’t finished writing this year’s new year resolutions!

It makes today’s prompt for BootsnAll’s 30 Days of Indie Travel blogging project even more funny. I haven’t made plans for my life but I’ve already made plans for travelling.

Photo_nov_30_10_57_43_pm

(Image from my TripIt app. Here’s a review of the Web program.)

Aside from the Chinese New Year tickets, the flights for the rest of the trips were bought on offer and I’m dang proud of myself for that. 

Some of next year’s travel will be more challenging. For the two Vietnam trips, I’ll be going alone and I don’t speak Vietnamese.

But that also makes it more exciting because they’ll be like warm up for my RTW trip where I plan to visit many countries which I don’t speak the language.

Yogjakarta has been on my To Go list after I found out about the ancient Hindu temples nearby. I’ll be travelling with D, my travel buddy who I went to Bandung with a few years ago. (This trip also reminds me I need to visit Angkor Wat.)

The locations I’m going to are great for indie travelers because they aren’t really huge cities and you can cover a lot of the areas within a few days of wondering around.

Can’t wait for 2012 to come.

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This blog post is part of BootsnAll’s 30 Days of Indie Travel Project. Day 30 (last day!): 2012 TICKET

Where are you going in 2012?  Why is that place great for indie travelers? 

The rest of my posts for the project can be found here.

Open Monument Day conquered

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Armenian Church
Sitting in round chapel of the Armenian Church. D and I finished the 5 required stops of Open Monument Day. Received a pair of tickets for Already Famous, a local comedy featuring stereotypes of Malaysian.
Anyway, we went on a guided tour of Hajjah Fatima Mosque and Sultan Mosque with Alphonso (i think). It was a nice tour and it didn’t rain.
Sadly the Open Monument Day [in case anyone’s doing media monitoring] was badly organized. Although the concept is nice and makes you go around visiting different sites.
Details about the guided tour was only sent to me, not D. No one knew where the shuttle bus was supposed to stop. No one seem to know what all that stamps are about.
Sitting in this pretty church, I have sort of forgotten about the rain, bad organization and just feel at peace.
Amen.

City of Lights, Day 15 of 30 Days of Indie Travel Project

Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower

Parisian cliché

Saying your favorite city is Paris has become a cliché, especially for jaded young Singaporeans who already have traipsed across Europe right after their university graduation. They’ll likely tell you that while their favorite European city is Stockholm, there’s no place like home where the transport system and the government works.

(On another note, Tokyo is slowly becoming another cliché but the people here still do not think of it yet because they like sushi and J-pop so much.)

Despite what they say, my favorite city is still Paris.

Continue reading “City of Lights, Day 15 of 30 Days of Indie Travel Project”